REYNOLDS: Macker is gone, not forgotten

Friday

Jul 31, 2009 at 12:01 AMJul 31, 2009 at 4:57 PM

The Gus Macker has been absent from the Peoria area for two years now, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever.

“My goal is to still come back and play there,” said Scott McNeal, founder and director of the national 3-on-3 tournament. “I haven’t given up on the Peoria area at all and I will be coming there at the conclusion of this season. We just haven’t had the right combinations of organizations and people to put it on.”

Dave Reynolds

The Gus Macker has been absent from the Peoria area for two years now, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone forever.

“My goal is to still come back and play there,” said Scott McNeal, founder and director of the national 3-on-3 tournament. “I haven’t given up on the Peoria area at all and I will be coming there at the conclusion of this season. We just haven’t had the right combinations of organizations and people to put it on.”

The back story: Peoria was annually one of the nation’s largest Mackers in the 1990s on its downtown streets, reaching its zenith in 1994 when nearly 2,400 teams and 7,500 players participated.

But an increasing number of security problems on and off the courts caused the city to drop the event in 2003 after a 14-year run.

The Macker then moved to Washington for a smaller, but better organized four-year stint before that community lost its director, Julie Snell, and decided the resources commitment was too great.
McNeal’s prime Peoria contact is Illinois Central College coach Tony Wysinger, who was heavily involved in past local Mackers and continues to coordinate several other tournaments in the region, most notably Quincy and Morris.

“I’m working way, way behind the scenes for another Peoria tournament,” Wysinger said. “Right now, it’s more concepts and ideas than anything concrete.

“If we did one, it would have to start small, with just 200-250 teams and time to build a good volunteer base. The volunteers are the key. Our last tournament in Peoria we had 700 teams and only enough volunteers to handle about 400. Everybody wants to play in it and not work it.

“That’s part of what caused the problems. You can’t have staff out reffing courts and not doing their (administrative) jobs.”

Wysinger said the Washington event had enough volunteers, but the tournament took on a different feel being held in an idyllic park setting as opposed to city streets.

But it’s that whole gritty downtown personna that has scared off many would-be sponsors for a Peoria return.

“There’s an intimidation factor with some of the organizations who might consider it,” McNeal said. “But it can be done right. We have a great tournament on the downtown Buffalo (N.Y.) streets so it can be done in a big city.”

A big part of what makes Buffalo successful is the use of two registered game officials on every court. Their presence brings order to every contest and removes the problematic call-your-own-fouls and teenage GusBusters approach.

While that method was part of the Macker essence and kept expenses down, it often resulted in the physical and verbal altercations that played a large role in the event’s demise here.

“Buffalo almost went overboard,” McNeal said. “They spent $20,000 this year on officials. I think you could do it for far less than that. But it’s good for the event and makes the games much more watchable.”

While the whole 3-on-3 fad of the ’90s has died down considerably, McNeal said his organization, based in Belding, Mich., is still going strong.

“We used to have 50-60 events, some with more than 1,000 teams and now we’re doing 40-45 with only a couple around 1,000,” he said. “But that’s not necessarily bad. We’re not as profitable, but are still a legitimate business niche. And 400-500 team tournaments are my best events as far as management.”

This year, McNeal has begun a college-only event at Central Michigan and hopes to spread that concept. He mentioned Illinois State as a potential market.

While college basketball players no longer can participate — a big part of what made the old Peoria Mackers so compelling — Wysinger is confident the city could still put on a pretty good show.

“You’ll get enough people to play and have plenty of good players,” he said. “I haven’t been to another Macker where you had two top men’s courts with the quality Peoria had.

“But what makes the tournament is the volunteers. If you don’t have enough, the whole thing can become very sad.”

SUMMER BREEZE: Former Bradley player Theron Wilson will begin his professional career in the Ukrainian Basketball League. Wilson was set to leave this week to join Gryfony Symferopil of the 10-team UBL. ... Registration is continuing for the annual Mitchell “J.J.” Anderson camp, held at the Civic Center from Aug. 11-14. The event will kick off with an Aug. 10 luncheon at the Par-A-Dice Hotel with Marcellus Sommerville the keynote speaker. ... The 16-U Illinois Wolves, the AAU team of Central sophomore Antonio “Bobo” Drummond, won the Hoop City Classic in Shawnee, Kan., last weekend, defeating All Iowa Attack 63-46. ... Saturday is registration day for the Howard Nathan Basketball Tournament, which runs Aug. 29-30 at Carver Community Center. The tournament features a 5-on-5 top men’s division, plus 3-on-3 play for all other age groups (open to ages 8 and over). Entry fee is $500 per team in the top men’s division; $100 per team for all others. Registration runs 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Registrations continue through Aug. 15. Questions, call Angennette Nathan-Gibson at (501) 256-6178. ... A benefit basketball game matching alums from Manual and Central is 7 p.m. Wednesday at Central. Former Rams and Lions interested in participating can call Howard Nathan at (309) 453-3386 or Tony Wysinger at (309) 453-6092.

Dave Reynolds can be reached at 686-3210 or at dreynolds@pjstar.com.

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